In operating an agricultural implement such as a row crop planter, maintaining a desired “downforce” between the soil and ground-engaging wheels of each row unit is difficult. Too much downforce can cause undesired compaction and yield loss, while insufficient downforce can cause the row unit to lose planting depth, resulting potential emergence failure. Recent advances in implement downforce measurement and mapping have highlighted the extreme spatial variation in applied downforce required to maintain desired downforce as moisture and soil properties change throughout the field being planted. Thus there is a need in the art for effectively controlling applied downforce with greater spatial granularity.